Surplus: Loquats

Another goal of this blog is to help deal with surpluses. One of the great things about having a garden, or working in a farmstand, or finding produce on sale, is that you have access to great food! The problem, there is only a very short window of time to get that food and often you have A TON of one specific kind.

This happened to me the other day when a lady, one of my customers at the stand, brought me an entire box of loquats! We had been talking about them one day, and she brought me the box the next day. I seriously almost cried with joy when I saw it. For some reason, the fact that she had labeled the box for me made it just that much better.

 

 I must’ve eaten 20 the first day. Then when I brought them home, my husband had another 10. The next day, I was still staring at an entire box of loquats.

 

Loquats are a little weird, they don’t have that much flavor other than a delicious light sweetness. They have a very high water content. Not much fruit, and huge seeds. What to do… what to do…

Then, my husband suggested we make jam. I can’t tell you how much I love this man.

 

 A little bit of googling and four recipes later, I had a plan. The base recipe I used can be found here, but it wasn’t to my standard (or my mom’s) for food safety, so I modified it a bit.

 

Loquat Jellam

Ingredients:

• 6 cups loquats, pitted and skinned
• 7 cups sugar
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 package Sure Jell (the yellow box)

Directions:

1. Sterilize your jars and lids. Get a big pot of water boiling, for the canning process.
2. Add the lemon juice to a bowl of 1-2 quarts of water. Wash the loquats well, peel the skin off with your fingers, then cut the fruit off in long skinny chunks. In a way much like taking long strips of zest off a lime. Discard the skin and cores/seeds. Place the fruit into the bowl of water as you get it, keeps it from turning brown.
3. When done, drain the water, and use a stick blender (or a normal blender) to blend up the fruit. Don’t puree, but get pretty close. You’ll need exactly six cups of loquat. At this point, pour boiling water over your lids (the part with the pop top and seal), and let sit until you need them.
4. Then follow the directions on the sure jell package for cooked jam. Basically, in a large pot, mix the loquat and pectin. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Just at a boil, mix in the butter and all the sugar at once. Bring back to a boil, stirring frequently, and boil for exactly one minute.
5. Pour the mixture into your jars – will make 9 cups of jellam or so. With lids on hand tight, process the jars in the boiling water for 10 minutes.
6. Substitutions: This fruit/sugar recipe is specifically for loquats – but jam can be made of just about anything!

My jellam came out a little runny – half way between jam and syrup, so good for both purposes. It’s very similar in flavor and color to apricot jam. I love it. Plus, the best part, this recipe used up the whole box of loquats.

 

 

So far I have put this stuff to many uses. We got some orange chicken the other day from an Asian restaurant and it was WAY TOO SPICY (and I love myself some spicy), so when I reheated the leftovers I poured a couple tablespoons of this jellam over it and sautéed till warmed through - delicious! We've also used it over pancakes, instead of maple syrup and on toasted English muffins over cream cheese. Versatile and delicious!!